Greengrass Music ~ Raw, Simple and Pure

What's in a word? Greengrass music? What is meant when some one says Greengrass? Is it a spin off of Bluegrass? Not quite. It'd be more appropriate to consider Bluegrass having it's roots in Greengrass Music.


Bluegrass is a term created as a result of the name of a country group - Bill Munroe's Blue Grass Boys. http://doodah.net/bgb/ . Bluegrass (now being one word) genre music was a specific arrangement unlike the country music of it's time. "In bluegrass, as in some forms of jazz, one or more instruments each takes its turn playing the melody and improvising around it, while the others perform accompaniment; this is especially typified in tunes called breakdowns. This is in contrast to old-time music, in which all instruments play the melody together or one instrument carries the lead throughout while the others provide accompaniment. Breakdowns are often characterized by rapid tempos and unusual instrumental dexterity and sometimes by complex chord changes." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluegrass_music

There are other forms of hybrid'ing the term Bluegrass...like new grass, Gospel grass, plaid grass...all attempts at capturing the roots type music of their aim. But none come full circle like the genre of Greengrass music. Greengrass is a roots music concept that is totally different in sound and theorem. Greengrass goes back to the beginning with a mindset of "old-time, new again." Meaning before there were Country, Old-Time, Bluegrass and Appalachian music there was Greengrass music. Greengrass being the folk music of Ireland, Scotland, Wales and other Celtic nations.


As Elvis Costello put it:
"I started with rock n' roll and...then you start to take it apart like a child with a toy and you see there's blues and there's country...Then you go back from country into American music...and you end up in Ireland and Scotland eventually."


Some groups do Irish folk songs bluegrass style, but it sounds bluegrass. Other groups do bluegrass tunes Irish-Celtic style, but it sounds Irish-Celtic. Greengrass music borders and sounds similar to Bluegrass, Irish and Celtic nations folk but has more of a conglomerate mix of all of the previous with a dose or two of American folk...which other than Native American music, and as Elvis Costello infers,  originated from somewhere else. 


Greengrass may be best described as raw, simple and pure. Like the early sounds of Woody Guthrie, Dylan, and Pete Seger (without most of the protest lyrics) combined with the Celtic Nations & Irish Folk flairs of Tommy Makem and The Clancy Brothers, a snippet of The Chieftains, The Dubliners and maybe a skosh of the Bard-like minstrel DNA of Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull. Greengrass can even have an added pinch of a Ragtime-Dixieland bling for extra flavor. It is significant to note that Bob Dylan was greatly influenced and helped get his start through The Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem.


Clan Suibhne's original music compositions and arrangements are Greengrass...raw, simple and pure...old-time, new again.

Clan Suibhne (left to right) C.W., LepreJohn, Famous Seamus = 3 brothers from Jersey

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"They're Not Just a Band, They're a Clan"